I finally picked up a VFD and motor for my mill last weekend at the Cabin Fever Show. I had been looking for some used stuff locally but decided to just buy the new one and get it over with. I bought it from Dealers Industrial Equipment folks at the show, they were nice to deal with; even carried the motor out to my truck for me. It was a 2 Hp TECO/Westinghouse control and a Marathon motor. The price was the same as on their web site ($385)
Haven't had an opportunity to do much machining with it, but first impressions are very good. Noise levels and vibrations are significantly less, and being able to change speeds without messing with belts is great, plus I can now slow this thing down enough to use larger diameter tools for boring and fly cutting. Definitely something I would recommend to others still using single phase.
The only compliant I had was the size on the wiring compartment inside the TECO chassis. It is absolutely rediculous how little room is available. I had to cut the wires approx 1" long beyond the jacket of the cable, then strip just enough insulation for the terminal strip. I suppose if I had used 18 AWG hook up wire I would have been OK!! There were several choice words floating around while wiring that box! After it was wired I needed to reverse the leads to the motor so that the forward direction matched the controller's indicators. It was easier to move the mill away from the wall to get to the motor leads than to change them in the controller. I have wired a lot of equipment and this was the worst I have ever seen.
Other than that problem it should be a nice improvement to the mill. Now if I could only do something about the operator [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/ooo.gif"%20alt="[/img]
Bob W
Just installed my new VFD
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- Posts: 570
- Joined: Mon Jan 06, 2003 3:47 pm
- Location: Jacksonville, Fl
I have the same problem...
I need to do something about it also.....
that operator has to go....
that operator has to go....
BP 2j vs, SB lathe, W& S #4 Turret lathe, Maho 600P